Business Daily

Floriade is a huge horticulture exhibition taking place every 10 years. It's in the Dutch city of Almere this year. For 6 months, visitors will see displays of plants and flowers, horticultural innovation – and proposed solutions to global environmental problems, especially in the area of urban housing. Matthew Kenyon has been to visit and hear about the challenges of putting it together during the pandemic and the costs and benefits to the local area of hosting it. Plus a look at some of the displays and questions over whether there is a future for these big, set-piece events. Presenter / Producer: Matthew Kenyon Image: Ariel view of Floriade; Credit: Matthew Kenyon

One of the many casualties of the war in Yemen is the FSO Safer, a floating storage facility which holds one million barrels of crude oil. No maintenance has been carried out on the vessel for years, and experts believe it’s in danger or exploding or leaking oil in to the Red Sea at any moment. The UN has previously unsuccessfully tried to resolve the issue, but David Gressly, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, thinks the next few weeks could be vital, and is calling on the private sector and individuals to help fund an operation to transfer the oil to a safer vessel. We hear from Tim Lenderking, US Special Envoy for Yemen, Ghiwa Nakat of Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa and Yemen’s Minister for Water and the Environment Tawfeeq Al Sharjabi. Presenter: Hannah Bewley Producers: Hannah Bewley and Sumaya Bakhsh Image: The FSO Safer from above; Credit: Getty Images

Joe Tidy travels to El Salvador where almost everything can be paid for using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. After President Bukele invested heavily in Bitcoin some people are questioning the long-term impact of such a move. For some money has flowed in from mysterious investors, but others like local economist Tatiana Maraquin think the country’s economy cannot handle the fluctuations in the value of the cryptocurrency. Joe visits a veterinary surgery, which offers huge discounts on treatment if it is bought using the Chivo bitcoin wallet app. Presenter/producer: Joe Tidy (Photo: Bitcoin poster)

Adaptive fashion, or stylish clothes for people who have a disability have not always been widely available, especially for those who use a wheelchair. Recently though, a fashion revolution has begun. We hear from the women pushing the industry to change. British Somali Faduma Farah launched a fellowship for designers to come up with an inclusive collection that would be modelled at London Fashion Week. We speak to Faduma and the winning designer Harriet Eccleston, as well as stylist and influencer Heide Herkes who was one of the models featured on the runway during the show – the first ever to include wheelchair users. Plus, Maria O'Sullivan-Abeyratne, CEO and founder of Adaptista, tells us about the inclusive online shopping platform she’s building for the adaptive fashion market.Presenter: Vivienne Nunis Producer: Izzy Greenfield Image: Faduma Farah, founder of the Faduma Fellowship; Credit: BBC

Meet the community groups trying to make energy more accessible and affordable. Laura Heighton-Ginns visits a fuel poverty workshop in the UK and hears about the devastating effects of not being able to afford food and why it’s so important to have a secure energy supply. Laura hears from Soren Hermansen - the Director of the Energy Academy on the island of Samso in Denmark. Samso controls its own energy supply and advises other communities on how they can do the same. And we find out about a project in Tanzania run by Janet Maro. Janet's project powers a centre for training farmers using experimental technology to harness the energy from the sun and collect rain water.Presenter / Producer: Laura Heighton-Ginns Image: Janet Maro and her team; Credit: Janet Maro

Singapore has become the latest country to allow egg freezing for non-medical reasons. That is a method of preserving a woman’s fertility so she can try and have children at a later date. With an increasing number of companies offering this and other fertility benefits as a workplace perk, Ivana Davidovic asks if this always good news for women?Carol Chen, a businesswoman based in Singapore, explains why she would have loved to have had a chance to freeze her eggs closer to home, rather than have to travel thousands of miles to the US to do the procedure there. She also hopes that other counties in Asia will soon make the process more streamlined Just under 40% of large companies in the US - so those over 500 employees - offer fertility benefits and the numbers are rising fast. Now even Europe, with its much more generous national health services, is starting to follow suit. Co-founder of a fertility benefit company based in Berlin, Jenny Saft, explains why.American entertainment lawyer Nyasha Foy tells her e

As part of the Business Daily series Million by 30, Sam Fenwick meets Elwinder Singh and hears the story behind his private healthcare company Connect and Heal. The business coordinates healthcare appointments, tests, treatment and medication for six million paying customers. He explains where the idea came from and why he moved thousands of miles to set up, finance and grow his company. Find out how he manages such a big business and what his plans are to grow the enterprise further. Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Rory Claydon/Carmel O’Grady Image: Elwinder Singh. Credit: Connect and Heal

Oil and gas prices have risen sharply after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as a result many countries have signalled a move towards more renewable energy. One of the challenges for the future will be how to store energy produced by wind and solar power so it can be used at the right times. Professor Seamus Garvey and a team at the University of Nottingham tell us about their prototype machine which uses compressed air and heated gravel to tackle this problem. We also hear from Professor Mara Prentiss of the University of Harvard on the science behind these new ideas, and Heymi Bahar of the International Energy Agency to give an overview of this sector at the moment. Presenter/Producer: Hannah Bewley Image: Wind turbines and solar panels; Credit: Getty Images

Dense tropical rainforest in central Africa's Congo Basin is humid and rainy for much of the year. Underfoot lies one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks – muddy soil built up from layers of partly decomposed plant matter. Remote and uncultivated, the peatlands have survived for thousands of years, stretching over an area the size of England. Incredibly, the area contains 30 billion tonnes of carbon trapped underground, but this rare carbon store is now under threat as local authorities turn their attention to oil. Presenter: Vivienne Nunis(Image: Aerial view of the peatland forest at Lokolama/Penzele around Mbandaka, Équateur province, DRC. Credit: Daniel Beltrá/Greenpeace Africa)

For the last couple of months India has been experiencing an absolutely blistering heatwave. The capital Delhi has seen temperatures hit record highs and it's estimated the heat is costing the Indian economy more than a hundred billion dollars a year. Rahul Tandon explores what can be done for the millions of people in India who have to work outside. The BBC's Nikhil Inamdar reports from Aurangabad, a city in Maharashtra state, where some crops are being harvested overnight to avoid the heat. We also speak to experts and business leaders about how the country is coping with planned power outages and what the future might hold for the Indian economy if temperatures continue to rise. Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: Carmel O'GradyImage: Indian workers in Delhi; Credit: EPA Harish Tyagi

As part of the Business Daily Meets strand we speak to Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning, senior economists at the Bank of England. They have written a book to help people of all ages get a better understanding of the economy. They answer questions like ‘Why am I richer than my great-great-grandma?’ and ‘What actually is money?’. Sam Fenwick talks to them about what The Simpsons can teach us about getting a pay rise, and why you might want to think twice when filling your bag with gobstoppers at the sweet shop. Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Hannah Bewley Image: Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning; Credit: Penguin Random House

As part of the Business Daily series Million by 30 we speak to Amarachi Nwosu, a filmmaker who wanted to look at race in Japan from a different angle. She spoke to black people in Toyko about their experiences in the country and uncovers a world of custom, curiosity and respect. Sam Fenwick hears more about what the film means to her, and what she hopes her next ‘million’ will be. Picture: Amarachi Nwosu; Credit: Serah AlabiPresenter: Sam Fenwick Producers: Helen Thomas and Hannah Bewley

With more and more of our financial lives moving online, we ask whether some people are getting left behind. Claire Williamson investigates whether some older people, who struggle with rapidly changing technology or fear losing their money through scams, are being forgotten about, as banks close branches and move online?Claire hears from people attending a digital skills training session organised by Age UK in East London and Carlos San Juan from Valencia in Spain tells her why he started a campaign for a more humane treatment of older people by Spanish banks.Producer / presenter; Claire Williamson Image: Euronet ATM machine; Credit: Getty

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tells Rahul Tandon about running a two trillion dollar economy, and how he responded to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Hear how his interest in China began, and why he thinks engagement with the economic superpower is the only way forward. He also gives us his opinion on new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and the recent return of the Labor Party to power. Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: Carmel O'Grady Image: Kevin Rudd (Credit: Getty Images)

The global online ad racket; Ed Butler investigates how criminals are ripping off advertising firms to the tune of billions every year.Andrew Lissimore the CEO of a Canadian company that sells high-end headphones tells us what happened when he hired an ad-tech firm to organise targeted advertising for his website.Ad fraud expert, Augustine Fou explains that the problems with digital advertising really began about a decade ago, when advertisers stopped selling their ads directly to publishing websites and used ad exchanges instead. We also hear from a former hacker who now advises companies on how to keep hackers and fraudsters at bay.Presenter / producer: Ed Butler Image: Online business marketing; Credit: Getty

In 2002, Lesley Curwen arrived in Siberia to see the inner workings of Gazprom. Hear how she found a business that felt more like an empire of its own, with 300 thousand workers and the largest gas reserves on the planet. Back then Gazprom was eager to be taken seriously abroad, and to sell more of its gas to Europe. Which it did. This year, war in Ukraine changed everything when Gazprom’s political master Vladimir Putin turned off the gas taps to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland. Lesley investigates how Gazprom has changed over the past 20 years, what its reputation is as a company, and what its future might look like.Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Carmel O'Grady(Photo: Lesley Curwen in Siberia in 2002; Credit: Lesley Curwen/BBC)

In latest episode of our series Million by 30 – Sam Fenwick is joined by Sharon Tsueng. Sharon is a former high school chess teacher, a marketing specialist, she was also a digital nomad and now invests in property. Sharon made a million dollars before her 30th birthday building passive income streams and then saving and investing that cash. Sharon tells Sam how she did it, what drives her and why a sensible attitude to money right from the start helped her build her nest egg and achieve financial freedom. Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Carmel O'GradyImage: Sharon Tseung; Credit: Sharon Tseung

During the coronavirus pandemic governments around the world pumped billions into their economies. Propping up businesses and trying to make sure people stayed in work. Sam Fenwick looks into what actually happened to all that money and whether it really did help keep businesses afloat during repeated lockdowns and restrictions.Nick Hood is an business insolvency expert with a company called Opus Restructuring – he helped us interrogate data held by all the major world economies on insolvencies. Sam also speaks to a business owner who was forced to close and declare bankruptcy during the pandemic despite financial help and another who was able to restructure and expand thanks to a government scheme.Presenter / Producer: Sam Fenwick Image: Closed sign; Credit: Getty

More than ever girls are bombarded by images that have been curated, filtered and touched up. How can we help girls decode those images and understand that ideals of beauty are constructed by society and change across time and place? Shelina Janmohamed is an author and advertising executive. Her latest book is designed to help girls aged eight and above build confidence in how they look and show them why what appears to be beautiful isn't as straight forward as it seems. Shelina tells presenter Rabiya Limbada why her career in advertising led her to write this book and why helping girls become more savvy consumers is good for business. Rabiya also speaks to six girls - Hanaa, Haleemah, Helen, Hana, Sophia and Amatullah - about what they think beautiful is, their experience of filtered images and how confident they feel about how they look. Presenter: Rabiya Limbada Producer: Carmel O'Grady Image: Girl looking at make up; Credit: Getty

Finance has traditionally been dominated by men. But now that’s starting to change. We talk to the female entrepreneurs in Africa who are using financial technology to give more people access to money and services - through apps, payment platforms and chatbots.Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder of Piggyvest in Nigeria, the first ever online app for personal savings and investment in West Africa. She tells us how she came up with the idea and how she’s using FirstCheck Africa, an angel fund for women entrepreneurs, to help others. Jihan Abass, the founder and CEO of Griffin insurance, Kenya’s first digital-only car insurance company, tells us about her ambitious plans to expand. Ethel Cofie, the boss of Edel Technology Consulting, who’s been named as one of the top 5 women influencing technology in Africa, gives her advice to women starting out in tech. She’s set up a support network, Women in Tech Africa. We also visit a coding bootcamp for young women in Ghana, called Developers in Vogue. Its founder, Ivy Bar